A Descriptive Study On The Three English Versions Of Tao Qian's Poems

The thesis is mainly concentrated on the analysis of the three English versions of Tao Qian's poems in different ages by means of the methodology of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS), a sub-branch of Translation Studies. Meanwhile, the author compares DTS and the traditional translation criterion in China so as to tell their difference.The three Englih versions chosen here are respectively Arthur Waley's in 1918, Xu Yuanchong's in 1992 and Wang Rongpei's in 1999. The study is synchronic as well as diachronic by this selection. Based on the three norms proposed by Toury, this paper is intended to judge whether the translation is more adequate or more acceptable, namely, source-culture-oriented or target-culture-oriented. Efforts are made to explore the potential social-cultural factors behind norms, which may affect the formation and development of translated texts.